Jim,
Due to the fish loading, you will have less need for KNO3, perhaps 1/4 teaspoon 3-4x a week. If you have 7-9 adults and feed them well, expect about 50% of the N to come from the fish loading.
I've had many Discus planted tanks and there are many folks in the bay area that keep these, the ratio of about 1/2 the N is about right needed for these well feed tanks.
1/2 teaspoon is fine till you get the fish feeding going.
1/8 on the KH2PO4 on the same day as the KNO3.
Blend the tap with the RO to get about 2-3KH. Makes sure the GH is about 4-5.
Traces: 15mls 3x a week will be plenty.
If you want to test for PO4/NO3 you can, but most algae and other issues are related to CO2 and low nutrients, I've yet to see a plant issue due to excess.
Fish might not like the high NO3, but if you do frequent water changes, there's no chace of that. Keeping the CO2 in good shape will address the rest.
So all you'll do is dose and make sure the CO2 is good and feed the fish, do the water change.
The algae you have, you'll need to get in there and prune and remove as much as you can. Keeping things stable will acheive that. You do not need to add more PO4 till the levels drops to 1.0ppm or so, provided the test kit is accurate.
Regards,
Tom Barr |